Compost Cookies
Whether you call them monster cookies, kitchen sink cookies, everything cookies, or compost cookies… these cookies are a salty sweet dynamo! Just try to resist them.
We have a tradition in our family of making a dish I lovingly call Compost Soup.
Compost Soup happens when I look in the fridge and notice we have a dozen leftover containers piling up that no one is ever going to touch again.
I load all the containers on the counter, start a soup stock of beef broth, garlic, and tomatoes (canned or fresh) then proceed to roughly chop everything in those containers, no matter what it is.
It could be leftover stir fried veggies, brisket, mashed cauliflower, quinoa, kale salad, fried rice, indian curry, you name it.
It ALL goes in the soup.
After a little simmer time, magically, something amazing happens. The beef-tomato-garlic soup base acts as the world’s greatest common denominator and all the flavors meld together.
It tastes great every time, I swear.
I’ve started doing the same things whilst cleaning out my pantry, but I call it Compost Cookies.
I start by making a rich tender cookie dough with Gold Medal Flour and butter, then add coconut and coffee grounds for good measure. Gold Medal Flour is my favorite flour for baking because it’s so light and smooth. It makes the cookies exceptionally tender!
Then I take all the baking chip bags with one handful of chocolate or cinnamon chips, all the salty snacks with just a few crumbs in the bottom of the bag (like pretzels, potato chips, nut mixes, or even chex mix) and dump them into a coffee coconut cookie dough.
Even the scraps at the bottom of your cereal boxes work for this “monster cookies” variation.
The coffee coconut dough, does what the beef-tomato-garlic combination does for the soup.
Magically, the cookies taste amazing no matter what you put in them.
I recently made a batch of Compost Cookies using crumbs from a bag a ranch flavored party mix. I wasn’t sure how they would turn out with the lingering ranch flavor from the snack mix.
But guess what, someone who shall remain nameless couldn’t keep his hands off them and ate no less than SIX in a row.
See?
Trust the coffee-coconut combo. It works wonders.
So how about cleaning out your pantry?
You can make monster cookies and be earth-friendly all at the same time.
Monster Cookies - Compost Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups Gold Medal All Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon coffee grounds
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup baking chips any variety/mixed or M&Ms
- 1 cup roughly crushed Chex Mix chopped pretzels, potato chips, nut mix, or cereal
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix the first four dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Then cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer.
- Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture. Then scrape the bowl and slowly mix in the flour mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Drop the cookie dough into 1 1/2-tablespoon mounds on the lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 3-4 minutes before moving.
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Gold Medal Flour. All opinions are my own.
What a delicious way to clean out the pantry – especially after all of the holiday baking! When you call for coffee grounds, do you mean instant coffee or ground beans? It could make a world of difference. Thanks!
Hi Anne, I used ground coffee beans, not instant coffee. So you have the texture and flavor of coffee, but it doesn’t darken down the dough.
I’m so super intrigued by these compost cookies! However, I lack one very special ingredient! I don’t drink coffee! Is there some other magic dust I can substitute that might meld the flavors?
Hmmmmmm. You could try them without and see what you think, but I can’t think of anything to take the place of coffee. Sorry!
Oh my god, these cookies are unreal!
Oh you KNOW I love these!
I am all over these cookies!!! They are SO good, Sommer!
Yum!
What a fun way to use up all of those leftovers. Love this!
These are just too much fun!!!
That is such a fun cookie, my boys would love to get their hand on this recipe. Perfect.
Your photos are spectacular!! And those cookies look so good!!
I have such a weakness for salty and sweet together, so I know I could eat about a dozen of these!
These look fantastic!! :)
Love the name and the cookies look delicious! We have a big giant compost bin so forgive me if it keeps coming to mind – ha ha.
I love loaded cookies! Wish I were eating a couple of these right now!
I’m loving all the goodies in this cookie Sommer!! Pass me a plate and a glass of milk :)